Where will loved ones spend their last days? Who will be in the room? What feelings and secrets need to be shared with family before it is too late? Acclaimed filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman probe these questions and more in the context of two San Francisco Bay Area medical facilities on the forefront of creating new paradigms for end of life decisions with grace. Filmed and edited in intimate vérité style, 'End Game' follows visionary medical practitioners who are working on the cutting edge of life and death and are dedicated to changing our thinking about both.
Years after he changed the landscape of filmmaking with The Exorcist, filmaker and writer William Friedkin moves from fiction to fact with this documentary. What began as a brief conversation between Friedkin and Father Gabrielle Amorth - the head Exorcist for the Diocese of Rome for over 30 years - as two professionals who knew of each other's work, soon transformed into an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as Amorth agreed Friedkin could film an exorcism ceremony. It would be the ninth exorcism for a painfully afflicted woman, and it would be filmed by Friedkin alone, with no other crew allowed, no light other than the natural light in the room and a small digital camera-and-mic unit that could capture the ritual and its revelations. Combining the startling and singular footage from Cristina's exorcism with interviews from priests and psychologists, neurosurgeons and non-believers, Friedkin guides us on a journey into the twilight world between the boundaries of what we know and what we don't.
The second part of this series begins with his return home after his discharge from the army, and how he dealt with a rapidly changing pop scene. The picture is more complicated than even a fairly serious Elvis fan may understand. Priscilla Presley, who made some appearances in the first part, offers much more here, helping us understand how being forced into making a string of lousy movies was one kind of artistic prison, and then being ensconced in casino hotels for his famous Las Vegas residency was another. The man who had so carefully created his original persona was now stuck in the shallow roles others forced him to play.
From Patrick Kennedy's emigration in 1849 to the death of JFK Jr. in 1999, the films charts the family's rise from poor Irish immigrants to an all-powerful dynasty, exploring the lives, careers, personal tragedies and scandals that have given rise to the idea of a Kennedy curse. Featuring interviews with family members, and including rare archive, photos and letters, 'The Kennedys: A Fatal Ambition' sets the events in historical context, examines the family's unique characteristics and asks what part they may have played in many of the misfortunes.
Peter Jackson's poignant WWI documentary 'They Shall Not Grow Old' to commemorate the centennial of the end of the first World War. The acclaimed documentary is an extraordinary look at the soldiers and events of the Great War, using film footage captured at the time, now presented as the world has never seen. By utilizing state-of-the-art restoration, colorization and 3D technologies, and pulling from 600 hours of BBC archival interviews, Jackson puts forth an intensely gripping, immersive and authentic experience through the eyes and voices of the British soldiers who lived it. Jackson recorded a special introduction to the film offering his perspective on why the film is important for audiences, who have never experienced WWI footage as anything but grainy black & white, and silent. Jackson opens a window to the past in a way that has never been seen or heard before, noting, 'Restoration is a humanizing process.'
New York, 1980: three complete strangers accidentally discover that they are identical triplets, separated at birth. The 19-year-olds' joyous reunion catapults them to international fame, but it also unlocks an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes beyond their own lives - and could transform our understanding of human nature forever.
Filmed and edited in intimate vérité style, 'End Game' follows visionary medical practitioners who are working on the cutting edge of life and death and are dedicated to changing our thinking about both.